Hi everyone, I’m working on a simple inventory/food-labeling app in MIT App Inventor and I want to add a feature where users can print labels directly from the app.
The idea is to enter things like product name, date, expiry date and barcode/QR code, then send this information to a thermal label printer. I’ve been looking at different thermal and linerless label options from manufacturers such as FormersPaper, but I’m not sure about the best way to connect the printer with an App Inventor app.
Has anyone here tried Bluetooth, Wi-Fi or Android-based thermal printers with App Inventor? Which method worked best for you, and are there any extensions or libraries you would recommend?
I’d appreciate any practical examples or tips.
If you search the Forum, you should find both successes and failures with thermal printers. A lot can depend on how the printer communicates with an Android app. It may for example have code or text commands that can be sent via Bluetooth. You need to find out before buying the printer....
There are one or two printers that communicate with Android using their own App. These might have an API (in Java or Kotlin) so you can write your own App but there is a big chance that App Inventor won't be able to use the API (unless you first create an extension).
A customer of us use tt059/tc200 as thermal printers, these supports rs232 serial connection ( a serial/bt dongle is needed to connect to android, for example )
Newer models ( such as te200 for example ) include bt as an option.
Newer used with bt, but it should be bt classic in SPP mode, so there should be no problem to connect with app inventor